Track Satellites in Orbit - Part 2

Last week we started building a motorized mount for a 1m parabolic grid antenna. The goal of the project is to create a versatile system that can be used for a wide array of projects down the line, from pulling data off of satellites, to radio astronomy and so much more.
This week we finish making the remaining pieces, wire everything up and get the system moving.
Resources:
SVGs/measurements: (Will be added later)
Code to control things: github.com/FOU...
Antenna: ebay.to/2AzaIZR
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[@lindhe]

You are now officially my only belled channel. I trust you to not abuse this power I have given you.

[@raymonroe1983]

Andreas Lindhé I wish I could say the same. I live here on You Tube.

[@daveb5041]

Me too; since I have been recovering from an injury. Can't do much else but learn science.

[@LuisConscious]

real talk

[@MrThonny15]

I'm really looking forward to see what this can be used for :)

[@CeeBricknell]

Loving the build, why didn't you use a worm and wheel to adjust the altitude of the antenna. It would put far less stress on the stepper. In fact all you would really need is a motor with or with out a feedback loop. It also could make the whole system far more compact

[@Wtfinc]

no kidding. why did i not think of it either. i thought it looked odd the way he was doing it, just couldent figure it out till u said it.

[@TheChrisSimpson]

"Rapid unplanned disassembly" Engineering speak for "shit broke" hehe 😜

[@Madsstuff]

I knew you had an ear piercing! Your voice gave it away! When I heard your for the first time I thought "I bet this guy has is ears pierced."

[@liamburgess3385]

I ordered the same antenna when your last video released. I'm going to use the same stand that I use for my telescope as it is designed for tracking objects through space. Something I recomend you check out. The stand has to be aligned with the north star to work propperly but after that its very easy to use

[@chibill_mc]

Liam Burgess I thought of doing this once until I realized that satellites don't orbit in the way stars move in the sky.

[@simpolicious]

This is so exciting!!

[@Djoodibooti]

We love a scanning shishtar.

[@raintrain9921]

Have you considered putting some fabric pads in areas to add damping for any oscillations that may develop during use?

[@tomf3150]

Engineering god ? That's Montgomery Scott isn't ?

[@skrimae400]

This is why i love science! :D

[@askyourself402]

NOTE MORE BIT! DRILLING FLUID !!

[@orsonzedd]

Engineering gods, ain't that the truth

[@johnbruhling8018]

The main issue I incurred when using the 2.4 parabolic grid antenna and satellite reception was RF noise interference from other power supplies and computers and such, did you have to Shield the psu and motors?

[@MattG-mw7zi]

My God man, you have a milling machine and scroll saw but not an angle grinder???

[@WimsMill]

Nice work. For the aluminium, I use this app for feed and speed calculations: fswizard.com/. Also use some cutting fluid. Aluminium will gum up the tool when it gets warm. Sometimes it will just grip the tool and snap it right off. Cutting fluid cools and lubricates for better chip evacuation. Keep up the work.

[@dimitrioslianos511]

Check SatNogs.... many satellite trackers like you , all over the world , track a satellite , you track the satellite ,for example, 5 minutes , an other tracker , track the same for 2 minutes , an other for 10 min and so on!!! so the SatNogs project get the data and create one big file ... that it is public ... also SatNogs help with Open source ideas to make the tracker , PCB , programs and hardware solution , all open source ... The SatNogs created from a group of people , in a hackerspace also... so its full open source for anything!! and they love Space , they also build an open source CubeSat.... the UpSat ... with collaboration with a university

[@gaugsh]

its been 4 years please add svg's and if you want please get back to sdr

[@t0nito]

Did anyone ever tell you sound exactly like the 8-bit guy?

[@iwanttoknowthis2706]

Does someone know any papers about this?

[@fakiirification]

genetic engineering... so... cat-girls. when?

[@milliosis]

Hi

[@Caelestis-des]

Stickman Leo sup

[@twogirlsandabird2095]

9 months later: still waiting for the svg files.....

[@KoraktorXV]

2:55 "should prevent the steel parts from rusting" ... spraying Paint on Rust...

[@sirdouglashowel5thseat776]

cool story

[@Djoodibooti]

Right? I was gonna say, she's looking a lil rusty crusty.

[@spaghootus9473]

pretty sure that spraying a protective layer on rust will still slow down/ prevent further rusting, as it cuts off oxygen

[@clodman84]

@@spaghootus9473 yes but the already existing layer of rust might chip off. But I don't think it will matter that much

[@BeeHolding]

You're breaking the end mills because the depth of cut is way to much for that diameter. If you tell me the number of flutes and diameter of the end mill I can calculate the spindle speed, and the IPR for aluminum for you. I only work in imperial though. Also, there called end mills, bits are for drilling and or driving fasteners.

[@bobbobson5595]

Up Vote so he sees

[@sorin.n]

Agree. Upvoted! NYC CNC is a good source for learning that. Another one is Lars Christensen's Fusion 360 Channel. 😉

[@sorin.n]

And, yes, how could I forget? Check out This Old Tony here on YT too! 😎

[@BeeHolding]

I love NYC CNC, did you see when he broke the probe on the pumpkin?

[@janhemstad]

You lobotomized Cogsworth!!! D:

[@NikHYTWP]

And he never spoke of satellites again

[@LemonInTheSky]

Use some oil/cooling liquid when drilling metal. Will save you drill bits from breaking/premature wear. Esp in aluminium. Even WD-40 is better then noting,

[@Sqwince23]

Going slow with cutting metal is not always good. You're rubbing the metal not cutting it. This leads to heat which chip welds the chips to the bit which fills the flutes and eventually breaks your bit. You need to check out NYC CNC on KZbin. He has a ton of great info on this kind of stuff. Setup your feeds and speeds properly, babysit with a bit of WD40 or coolant, and make sure you have great chip evacuation like a vacuum or air hose and you'll be cutting aluminum without breaking bits. :-) GLHF

[@daveb5041]

*Add oil when drilling/cutting aluminum to stop the bits breaking. Thick oil works, doesn't have to be anything special can even be wd40 that you keep spraying on. Hope this helps! Watch ThisOldTony on youtube to learn all you need to know about making jokes on youtube...and crazy machine skills.*

[@transendinghuman]

Greetings from Germany

[@flawlesscode6471]

White Techi ein deutscher?

[@hermannpaschulke1583]

FlawlessCode scheint so

[@darkfear4275]

Sehr gut!

[@runforitman]

Never saw pipsqueak again Hopefully will soon

[@thethoughtemporium]

It started snowing. Have to wait till spring

[@chain3519]

@the thought emporium is it spring yet?

[@stackmagic]

about keying to a shaft: matthias wandel just puts a screw in between the flat part of the shaft and the wooden gear

[@ianflach6528]

Hey, IDK if you will see this but I am attempting to create one of this and I have a couple question. 1. When will the SVGs be added? 2. Do you think 3d printing the gears is possible? (I don't have a CNC)

[@hadjaidjinour8666]

Great work I'm sure it will do the trick, a little suggestion comming from a mechanical engineer, you should use a (screw gear transmission) for the antenna axes of rotation it will stop the wibeling and ensure the stoping torque needed for maintaining the antenna in place.

[@CutterSlade001]

Great idea and a prime suspect for a 3D printed worm gear.

[@levisheridan4410]

It’s called a slew drive

[@levisheridan4410]

There’s a little chance he’ll be able to machine one but they have hundreds of them online

[@CutterSlade001]

Levi Sheridan 3D printing them is fairly easy though.

[@Zahlenteufel1]

I think you'll make me go into biology with that lab...

[@brotherhoodofgamers8686]

Zahlenteufel1 agreed I'm totally going to do the same

[@recklessroges]

Have you remained lactose tolerant? (Or do you have to re-patch yourself regularly?)

[@stella_lilies]

I believe he answered that in a previous video.

[@bSherwin]

Where did you go?? Did you get data from the wrong satellite

[@alphadarthlupus2995]

been waiting for this

[@joebi-wan-kenobi5069]

You guys are awesome. The amazing things you guys do with such easily available and cheap hardware is incredible. Just goes to show, all you need is material and a little know-how.

[@wormworm9388]

howard has detected the signals and replied with: LIGMA

[@Renamoose]

Ok now dot some white spray paint on that black and you have stars, purple you have galaxys.

[@CountlessPWNZ]

this guy got visited by feds for sure

[@thinman4648]

Why not use worm gears to aim the antenna?

[@daveb5041]

*Does this actually follow the satellite or does it just track across the sky for a predetermined amount of time? I would watch long form videos even with minimal editing, like just cutting out repetition or when you are not narrating, of you just putting things together with some explanations. If it tracks it like in your wifi finder how does it do this? Does it keep moving back and fourth tiny amounts to find the signal? Seems like it would tax the motors.*

[@daveb5041]

Glad to see I have a fan. I have a very hard time seeing the screen and it makes seeing my posts easier.

[@MartinPHellwig]

Breaking bits, depending on what material is made of, for example HSS (high speed steel) your rotation speed my actually to low. Carbide is even worse.

[@bakedbillybacon]

Some SpaceX 'destructive' acronims references. CNCing. Great names for the machines. Amazing open-sourcing of information. What is not to love about this project? Thanks for another video! Keep up!

[@BloodAsp]

Zombie apocalypse confirmed origin, The Thought Emporium Bio Lab. -News header in the coming years.

[@skyblockpro1]

Hey I don’t want to be the annoying type but do you think you can make those files public. They would be great for this summers project. thanks

[@HugoPeeters]

Upvote for wearing the same instructables shirt as I did today. And for using the term RUD. #kerbalspaceprogram

[@willemschipper7736]

Your videos are so cool! They overlap >90% of my personal interests!

[@jafinch78]

Neat and great detail as always with your works. I finally have a direct TV dish and some other antennas I've picked up for free to use for. I'd like to use one antenna for a background scan (discone most likely) to subtract to reduce noise/unwanted signals and the other antennas for tracking. I've considered for the altitude/tilt tracking using a semi-circle, or actually might be a little more of a circumference, gear with the axis as close to the back of the parabolic trough or dish as you can so less counterweight required and is more the center of gravity. Kind of built right into the back side of the dish/trough basically. Then having the table rotate for panning maybe using captain chair bearings that can be found cheap like at Walmart in the marine section with the whole system kind of built like the Dobsonian mounts. This instructable kind of has the idea (www.instructables.com/id/BUILDING-a-DOBSONIAN-TELESCOPE-MOUNT/)... though not like I'm planning exactly. I've been wondering how to make DIY like video camera mount pan and tilt fluid bearings since seems like would be way smoother. I'm thinking something pressurized with grease or more grease for now with a seal around for the panning captain chair bearing at least.

[@jafinch78]

Here's a closer design regarding the mount where a layer for gear teeth can be added: makezine.com/projects/build-a-backyard-dobsonian-telescope/

[@jafinch78]

Here is an even closer design... with the exception that I am thinking for fluid bearings milling a groove in the base for the balls and grease to be with a similar though slightly narrower profile for the top part that will sit on the balls and in between the base groove. I'm thinking the same for the altitude/tilt tracking with brushes/rubber to clean or like squeegee the top part before entering the end bottom part that has the profile of the bearing to keep the bearings in. members.ziggo.nl/jhm.vangastel/Astronomy/30cmscope/motorize_30cm.htm

[@jafinch78]

I'll document this here also for the record since is interesting to me, though not sure about heavier systems even if designed like I noted above... though does seem really simple in design: garyseronik.com/a-tracking-platform-for-astrophotography/#more-52

[@88njtrigg88]

jafinch78 Thank you for the links Sir, very much appreciated.

[@mandi8345]

re: broken tips. Soft metal, fast spindle. Hard metal, slow spindle. Also, dont force the tool. And use oil.

[@skinnyflea2628]

You guys are literally the best KZbin channel because the way you make the content is so great! I guess my interests are also the same so, whatever. Still I love this channel so much. The amount of information I can lean is great 👍

[@martinsalko1]

As a rule of thumb you want small chips, instead of large chunks flying off, when machining.

[@victoryfirst2878]

Could you be able to make a parabolic floodlight that will follow people walking outside the house with the light mounted on the roof ??? Thanks

[@nil2k]

Weird to me (late to discovering your videos) that every time you make an antenna you can point it seems to scream out for a worm gear on the motors and you never use one.

[@adamskypixelds6390]

Please upload the .SVG files. over 2 years now please have waited and waited. please a maker that wants to make haha

[@Nimbos0]

Spray painted H/10

[@VentexerAT]

Where are the damn measurements??? I want to make one right now but can't.

[@randomnessx3597]

Can you guys make a kit for this i cant buy buy all the tools

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

I think maybe you should take a look at Gibson and co's Digital to Biological Converter (DBC) for inspiration for that bio lab. Here's the 2012 patent: patents.google.com/patent/US9718060B2 He recently did a TED talk on it which showed new design and I'm pretty sure him and Venter also did a paper in Nature or Science some years back detailing this machine. I know I want to try to build it when I get the chance.

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

Can't wait to see what you manage to do with Pip Squeak.

[@kevinkent2638]

Great video could you tell me the size of the large gear? thank you.

[@quantumlab9130]

A rapid unplanned disassembly, I have a lot of those ):

[@Kamis47]

Use HTD teeth belt to drive the mount. It will be easier and cheaper

[@joshuaburbulys6532]

Hey I have a ~635nm non tested red laser. I wanted to do a project where I could change the wavelength by a exterior means. Before starting a project that I know little to nothing about I thought it would be usefully to ask if you had any suggestions first. Thanks, Josh

[@thethoughtemporium]

short answer? not easy enough to be worth doing. Thus far im yet to get second harmonic to work even with very powerful lasers

[@Wtfinc]

others might not care but i would love to see the final video.

[@jokn999]

Very nice project! But I guess you can't leave it outside due to rain and other stupid things nature does? An automatic HRPT reciever that outputs just the images would be sweet...

[@thethoughtemporium]

We're gonna build a radome so we can leave it outside. Already have a roof to mount it on. gonna be totally automated by the time we're done.

[@theradiodragon2awo]

wait what older brother you should say bigger brother instead.

[@myname-pe2pe]

Can you make a radio telescope to see deep space objects such as quasars?

[@51m0_official]

can i use a 80cm satellite dish with a 1.6 ghz helical antenna ?

[@RG-xw5up]

Cutting quarter inch steel plate with a hacksaw.....

[@chibill_mc]

Would be cool to get that as a station on Satnogs :p it looks so cool!

[@MilesCallisto]

Does your program on the Ramps 1.4 support something like CX6DD or WiSPDDE for automatic tracking of LEO and MEO sattellites?

[@orlando9163]

get a lasercutter it will speed things up for smaller things

[@Argosh]

This is leading to a secret base on a volcano island, right?

[@nicknesler]

What antenna is that? The link in the description is broken.

[@gabeg7455]

Are you ever going to show how to make graphene fiber

[@jakenelson1366]

what happened to COGSWORTH???

[@secabrepheox5450]

1) Ive seen it before and wanted to build something too, now I watch it again and still want to build something (which is way out of my scope) 2) You kind of sounds like CP Grey :P 3) Lets build our own SETI!

[@Vnifit]

Hey have you received your GOES 16 LNA from NooElec? Just got it the other day! (I'm in Canada, as I understand where you also are)

[@Gen3Benz]

Great vid! You tech skills blow my mind! Maybe get some cutting oil(kerosene works too), it will help you drill holes and extend the life of your bits! Sub n' Thumb

[@toastrecon]

I wonder if you could find some cheap planetary or other gearsets for the drive. It seems like you're trying to get too much out of those steppers, and they'd "like" to be at higher RPMs but lower torque values. Could help with the fine tuning of the aiming, once the time comes.

[@MatthewPotter]

Have you thought of using slip rings for some of the motor wiring? It would make the cabling much more clean due to having the ability to spin 360 freely. It would be added cost but I'm sure you'd be able to find some with high enough cables for the bottom to get both power (twisted pair of 2) then then the motors allowing for USB externally, power to the controller (locally mounted) then all the stepper cables for both.

[@alexlandherr]

I applaud you for making me go into SDR and satellite image reception. Any tips on receiving the high quality NOAA images on 1.7 GHz?

[@Djoodibooti]

Genetic engineering on a budget?! Oh honey, sounds like my weekends OH HONEY OH HOOOONNNNNNEEEEEYYYYY.

[@combatkiller7881]

Here is a little tip, if you use a chain and sprockets with a tensioner it makes it tonnes easier to apply with the minimal amounts of effort. I would of used 2 sprockets and a chain, the same as you would find a push-bike and insert a tensioner onto the chain just to make it stronger, by doing it this way its faster and quicker to apply it and dont have to worry about weight and strength issues like you did in this vid. Great Vid, tho!

[@ianmoone17]

Great work. You could make nice small counterweight and in any shape- you just need blowtorch and piece of lead.

[@joppekoers3992]

Love the idea!! But you should really find another (good) maker to help you out, you're making quite a lot of easy-to-prevent design/ engineering mistakes.

[@renlie7753]

Hi, Awesome project!! 2:34 what is it ? HackRf (software defined radio)? thanks

[@k9wolflord609]

how much did it cost to make all together?

[@HotDamnHarry]

Hi, great work.... just wondering.... how do you handle things if the signal you are seeking is polarized???? you may need some way to rotate the dish, in relation to the source, so ensure correct alignment, and hence clearer signal... maybe an extra stepper at the head to handle the rotation ... would only need to move a quarter turn

[@realcygnus]

a channel well worthy of $upport imo .....as far as the nature/direction of the actual projects much more so than its DIY aspects.

[@bjarnivalur6330]

A simple way of finding optimal speeds and feeds is to go onto the manufacturers website and finding the most recent catalog, you can find the tool by looking for the coad on the shaft (it should be on the shaft and/or the container it came in) from there, you can find the materials it is meant for and what it can handle, there's often a note on the page to where you can either find materials and what tools to use on theme, or a page that tells you the Optimum/Min/Max feeds 'n speeds for each tool. Some manufacturers also have a calculator where you can pair tools with materials.

[@toshihitsu1989]

For drilling in to metal I would shuguest that you use some oil it help keep the bit from warming up and helps make it easier to drill in to metal. If you have some motor oil from a car you could use that.

[@gonzalodepedro8601]

That's an awesome project! I would have used a bike fork and a bycicle wheell hub for the moving parts.

[@leberkassemmel]

If you add coolant to the drill bit when drilling aluminum it works so much better. Even if you just spit on it.

[@brotherhoodofgamers8686]

You going to stay in Canada? And are you going to pick up some old projects?? Love the channel

[@MattG-mw7zi]

The engineering god is the Forge of Days

[@rock3tcatU233]

What kind of an angular velocity tracking can you achieve with that setup?